Swinging one of the hottest bats in professional baseball right now, Quincy Latimore walked it off for the Harrisburg Senators Thursday night.

His solo home run with one out in the bottom of the 10th -- Latimore's second blast of the night and fourth in three games -- handed the Senators a 10-9 triumph over Akron before 3,968 fans in the opener of a four-game series at Metro Bank Park.

The 10th-inning heroics ended a seesaw battle that saw offensive explosions very early and very late.

The Senators (45-65) and RubberDucks (60-53) continue the series Friday night at 7, with games Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) as well.

Latimore's solo shot came off the sixth Akron pitcher, Louis Head (0-1), after Kevin Keyes' two-out, two-run homer off closer Shawn Armstrong tied it in the bottom of the ninth.

Derek Self (2-2) pocketed the victory with a scoreless top of the 10th, as the right-hander pitched out of a jam after the first two batters reached.

Manager Brian Daubach, whose team played 13 innings Wednesday in Richmond and went extra innings for the eighth time since July 11, said Self was it. If another pitcher was needed, it would have been a position player.

Harrisburg led Akron 7-4 after three frames, with each team scoring in each of the first three half-innings. That included a leadoff home run for Michael Taylor in the bottom of the first, his team-leading 22nd of the season after missing a week with a sprained wrist.

In the 10th, Self fielded a bunt with runners on first and second and nobody out and fired to third for the force. He then retired the next two via strikeout and flyout to keep it knotted at 9-9.

Latimore says he was just looking for a double to get himself in scoring position, but his opposite-field shot cleared the wall in right to earn himself a dousing of water from the cooler.

DUGOUT CHATTER

Daubach on Latimore: "I'm happy for Quincy. Since Drew [Vettleson] has come back, and especially when we're playing National League games, he probably hasn't gotten to play as much as he'd like. But he's been a good teammate through it all. They're playing a shift on him every at-bat, but he's worked throughout the season with [hitting coach] Mark Harris on hitting balls the other way. It was great to see."

Latimore on the team's ability to rally: "That's something I want to credit our team with, because all season we have battled and fought and clawed to keep ourselves in the game. We've gone out and given up some runs, but we've been able to scratch back, get ourselves in the ball game and give ourselves a chance to win. We haven't won all of them, but we've definitely given ourselves opportunities to win games."

Latimore on Taylor: "Michael is a very talented player. I tell him all the time, 'You really have it, man.' He's great. He's a humble guy, good head on his shoulders, and just very talented. That's hard to do, not having an at-bat in five or so days, to come out and hit a breaking ball out the park in your very first at-bat."